One Factor Bringing Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) Stock Up

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) closed slightly up 0.02% to $64.25 Monday after the oil company won approval from the U.S. government to resume its oil exploration off Alaska's Arctic coast.

The U.S. Interior Department endorsed Shell's plan to use two rigs to drill up to six exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea as long as the company gets the other permits required, set plans to control any potential leaks, and keep its ships at least four miles away from any walruses in the region, according to Bloomberg.

Shell previously stopped drilling in the area in 2012 when its main drilling rig was lost after it ran aground, which led to regulators imposing new safety rules.

"As we move forward, any offshore exploratory activities will continue to be subject to rigorous safety standards," Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Abigail Ross Hopper said in a statement.

TheStreet Ratings team rates ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC (RDS.A) a BUY. This is driven by multiple strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its attractive valuation levels, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

RDS.A's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.26 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.90 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC' earnings per share from the most recent quarter came in slightly below the year earlier quarter. The company has suffered a declining pattern of earnings per share over the past two years. However, we anticipate this trend to reverse over the coming year. During the past fiscal year, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC reported lower earnings of $4.70 versus $5.18 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($7.17 versus $4.70).

RDS.A, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 37.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 40.1%. The declining revenue appears to have seeped down to the company's bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500 and greatly outperformed compared to the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry average. The net income has decreased by 1.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $4,509.00 million to $4,430.00 million.

Wall Street futures are edging higher amid a "Super Thursday" of corporate earnings that will culminate with Apple's much-anticipated quarterly update and the first official indication on sales of its flagship iPhone X.

A sharp rise in U.S. Treasury bond yields, a well as the recent surge in global oil prices, has put equity bulls on the defensive Wednesday as markets prep for the start of the corporate earnings season.